User blog:Brady26/Through the Swamp of Dead Men
After their encounter with Meric Vunn, the group decided to wait until midnight, Barion having conceived a spell that would help them bypass the door to the storeroom where they believe the treasure is being stored. Darion and Rack stayed in the group's room, praying and drinking, whilst Barion went to the kitchen to eat and prepare his spells. Kadmos wanted to hunt for some animals to collect some meat, but as he left the roadhouse he realised that two members of the cult were following him and decided not to leave, instead joining Barion in the kitchen where they shared some of the stew Gristle Pete had prepared. As the evening approached a stablehand entered the kitchen asking if anyone here was a "Cadmus", which Kadmos took to mean himself, the young boy told him that Bog Luck and Ardred wanted to see him. Outside the kitchen down the steps, a crowd had gathered despite the misty rain that turned the ground to mud. A man in the crowd pointed at Kadmos as he appeared, Ardred the commander of the guard attempted to calm the man down, informing Kadmos that he was accused of murder though they were not arbitrators, but the incensed man drew his blade and shakily threatened Kadmos. At that people stepped back forming a circle, Bog Luck nodding in approval and Ardred pushing people back. From atop the kichen steps Barion warned the man not to risk his life, which seemed to shake the man but from his cloak he pulled a potion which he quaffed, causing him to swell with sudden assurance of his victory. The two dueled in the mud, Kadmos landing many devastating blows to the man who continued to fight, despite Kadmos offering to allow him to yield, the cultist seemed to be driven into a frenzy of rage. Eventually, after a flurry of slashing strikes, the cultist collapsed from Kadmos' attacks, being dragged away.With the gods appearing to have sided with Kadmos, proving his innocence, the matter was deemed to be resolved. The group returned to their room, waiting until the sun had gone down, when they moved out to the shrouded night to enter the warehouse. As they made their way down the stairs and across the mud covered ground, Darion fell down the stairs creating a great deal of noise, Barion suggesting he remin behind whilst the rest of the group infiltrated the building, which the paladin agreed to, sitting in the steps to keep watch on the warehouse. Inside, Barion, Kadmos and Rack found the building to be completely dark, with only Kadmos and Murry able to see in the dark. Cautiously approaching the door, with help from Kadmos, Barion began the spare he had prepared, gently touching different points on the door arcane markings appearing as his knuckles made contact, until one final touch that finished the knock spell, creating a loud crack as the wood and metal in the door were warped by the magic. Apologising for the loud noise, as Barion had not expected the spell to have that effect, the group opened the door finding three lizardfolk holding crates marked with Xs that Bog Luck had placed when the caravan had arrived. Leaping to action, Kadmos slew one of the lizardfolk, Rack and Barion stumpling into the dark room to help, Rack managing to send one of the lizardfolk hurling down the secret tunnel the boxes were to be transported through. Outside the group heard Darion blocking the door, preventing people from entering, the group managed to defeat the lizardfolk and glanced down the tunnel, thinking quickly they threw the corpses down the hole, hurriedly scurrying down the ladder themselves. Murry suggesting he go to Darion to explain what was happening. With the arrival of Bog Luck, Darion was unable to stop the half-orc who barged past him to inspect the warehouse, Darion following behind as Murry explained what had happened. Bog Luck found the door to the storeroom unlocked, seeing some of the crates dropped and damaged, he told Darion to leave and go look for anyone suspicious, Darion tried to get Bog Luck to follow him, but the half-orc dismissed the paladin. As he left Bog Luck opened the secret tunnel, looking down he saw Rack, though in the dark tunnel he could not see the colour of the dragonborn and he mistook him for a lizardfolk, chastising the creatures for their carelessness. The group clambered down the tunnel, looking through the bodies of the lizardfolk they found they were adorned in trinkets and coins fashioned into necklaces, with smudged face paint of skulls and bones across their bodies. Darion, feigning a search for any intruders, asked Murry what was going on, considering the entire situation too complicated to explain, Barion dismissed Murry and resummoned him, leaving Darion behind. The three now traveled deep into the tunnel, Rack asking Kadmos to send a letter to Leosin or someone in the Unbidden to collect his boots from Odd Ends in Eldswall. As Kadmos retrieved the Card he noticed there was a message for him in the bag, retreiving a sealed letter from Leosin in the bag, congratulating them on allying fully with the Unbidden, offering what help he could and warning against not to put anything too valuable into the bag as some of the other bags shared with it are unaccounted for. Kadmos wrote a letter to Leosin, informing him of where they were and what the cult were doing and if he could send on the boots from Eldswall. Travelling through the tunnel, the group passed the time chatting, Barion inquiring into Kadmos' homeland and age, motivated by his concern that they were crawling to their deaths Barion asked if the others had any family back home, Kadmos saying he did but disagreed with how they saw the world and Rack saying his Master was his only family, but he had not seen him in a long time. Reaching the end of the tunnel after hours of travelling, the group emerged in a fetid swamp, Barion realising they were in the Swamp of Dead Men. Quoting the text books he had learned years ago on such places, Barion warned the group of the dangers of the area, telling them to stick to the path they could see comprised of totems and scratches. They marched through the swamp for seven hours, the path winding around obstacles and the territories of beasts, all the while in the mist dancing will-o-the-wisps tried to lure them off the trail to any manner of terrible fates, though with Barion's advice, they stuck to the markers and found a campsite just as dawn was breaking. They rested for a few hours, Barion hoping that Darion was alright, enjoying some salted fish in several lean-tos that were set up in the area. As they were getting ready to leave, Kadmos checked the Card and noticed there was a message for him, reading: With Compliments, C.. He then thought of the boots and they emerged from the bag, handing them to Rack who donned them and began to practice using them, finding his speed greatly enchanced when he activated their power. Nearby a salty lake seemed to be where the totems led to, three canoes, presumably belonging to the lizardmen they had killed back at the roadhouse. They could see more trail markers floating in the waters beyond the mist, and so the three set of in one boat, paddling across to wherever the totems led. Snatching a piece of a passing totem, Barion found an old key that he pocketed. Eventually, the three saw some figures on a shore line that the trail was leading them towards, as they drew closer the lizardfolk and bullywugs that were there took notice of them, the lizardmen hauling a cart towards the water, the bullywugs croaking and occassionally hitting the lizardfolk for seemingly no reason at all. Beyond them was a castle, a delapidated and old looking structre, with a great telescope pointing out towards the swamp atop its central keep. Once it was clear that they were not the returning party of lizardfolk, one of the number pulling the cart held out it's scaly hand in the greeting of the cult, which Rack returned. Thinking quickly, Rack spoke in draconic and told the lizardfolk they were sent from Bog Luck, which seemed to convince them that they were cultists and there to see Rezmir, the three just nodding and agreeing with what the lizardman said, who identified himself as Snapjaw in pidgin Common after hearing them speak to one another in that language, the other lizardfolk and bullywugs going back to their business of hauling the cart back up the hill and supervising/beating lizardfolk respectively. The lizardman, Snapjaw, led them past the mud huts of the bullywugs and the strong woven longhouses of the lizardfolk up to the main gate of the castle. There they met around ten bullywugs and giant frogs on guard, the lazy creatures ignoring the group except for Snapjaw who they croaked and barked at. The lizardman took them to the Outer Ward of the castle, where he left them, reminding them of his name once more, as he scurried back past the bullywugs that threatened him in their strange language. There the group stood, within the castle of their enemy, filled with doubt and concern about their situation, too deep now to not commit wholy to the endeavour. Ahead of them some lizardfolk were training with crude metal weapons, and some bullywugs scrounged in the muck, seeing many large doors, the group decided that the leaders would be in the observatory keep in the centre. They needed to travel around the keep to the Inner Ward, to gain access to it, the way being guarded by three guard drakes that hissed and lunged at the strangers, the group backing away from them, a nearby lizardman explaining to Rack that the beasts were trained to attack strangers, though with the right incentive they will leave you alone, throwing some salted fish from his pack to the beasts as he escorted the group to the Inner Ward. There they saw two doors, one to the keep and the other to the the castle proper, they decided to enter the keep, the lizardman leaving them to return to his training. Inside the keep the group entered some sort of meeting hall, with an empty hearth, a spiral stairs leading upwards and a door to a room. Deciding to ascend the stairs to the second floor, the group found an office with a desk and a large chair, along with a door to another room on this level of the keep. Peeking through the keyhold they saw a raven in a cage, the room being someones' bedroom. Deciding that this could be where Rezmir could reside the group wanted to get into the room and see if they could find anything from her personal effects. Worried the raven could alert anyone, Rack readied himself to hurl a dart at the beast, bracing himself for one quick movement, instead however the bird heard him outisde and cried out loudly as he entered, the distraction causing his dart to miss, the bird continuing to cry out until Barion hurled a firebolt at the creature, incinerating it. Worried that the bird could have alerted the castle to their presence the group began to search the room, quickly ransacking it for anything of value as Rack placed the Dwarven Locksmith on the door's lock, using the metal from the old key that Barion had found to craft a new one for the lock. Bracing the bedframe against the door, the loud grinding of the Locksmith drawing further attention to them, the group found this to be the room of an elf, fashions and perfumes from Quel'Doran, contrasting starkly with the drab colours of the castle. The group realised they were trapped in the room as cultists began to hammer and bang on the door. Barion, thinking quickly, used disguise self to turn into Barra, as Rack cobbled together a sticky bomb using the alchemical creations of the kobolds from the Dragon Hatchery to blow a hole in the ceiling so they could climb into the floor above. Rack and Kadmos easily jumped up to the next floor, the two reaching down to help Barion who struggled, as he was making his second attempt, a masked face appeared in a hole that the cultist had hacked into the door, a green robed Dragonwing making eye contact with Barion, still in the guise of his bronze dragonborn friend. As the cultists returned to trying to break down the door, Barion managed to reach the third floor. The group found themselves in the observatory, a great Farseer device dominating the room, nearby they could hear the efforts to enter the room they had vacated at the staircase in the room. Wondering whether to risk sneaking past the cultists on the second floor or whether to try to escape onto the roof, the group clambered up the walls and stepped out onto the ledge of the observatory dome through the gap where the Farseer stretched out. Atop the ledge the group looked around to see if anyone could see them from up there, Kadmos noticing that below at the entrance of the keep was Azbara Jos, the Zelfolk man that had joined the caravan back in Bleakford. As they discussed how they could negotiate the treacherous stonework that was slick with slime and rainwater, four gargoyles perched on each corner of the ledge began to animate, the beasts leaping at the group as they balanced precariously on the ledge of the tallest tower in the castle. After a tense fight in which Barion shattered part of the dome that protected the Farseer, the group slid down the walls and roofs of the castle, Rack descending harmlessly down the length of the keep, all three of them landing in the muds of the Outer Ward where the bullywugs were still digging in the filth. Darting into the nearest door, the group entered a Great Hall, filled with tables for dining, a carptenters workshop and a huge pile of gold that had been taken by the cult from across Etan. Diving on the gold Kadmos started to fill the bag of holding as Barion requested some of the healing draughts they still had as he had been badly wounded by the gargoyles. As they took a moment to rest, they were interupted by the return of the hall's occupants, twelve cult initiates and four Dragonwings, each a different chromatic colour except green. The black Dragonwing demanded to know who these intruders were, thinking them the infiltrators that had broken into the keep. Thinking very, very quickly, the group decided to double down on the lie they had told the lizardfolk, declaring to have been sent by Bog Luck. When challenged on why they had not announced themselves, Rack replied that they had, which the black Dragonwing amazingly believed. The group were escorted to the base of the keep where the cultists were still searching for a bronze dragonborn, Barion's illusion having dropped when he began to cast other spells against the gargoyles. There they met Azbara Jos who recognised them from the caravan, thinking them to be cultists, he noted his frustration with the delay in returning to his research, which he deemed too complex for them to understand. The black Dragonwing, Bornian, decided that they should wait until the situation was resolved before being presented to the commander of the castle, Dralmorrer. Agreeing, the group were sent to some unoccupied sleeping quarters where they rested, panic and fear at being discovered plaguing their thoughts. Around a half hour later, the black Dragonwing returned, informing them that the commander would see them. Once more they were led into the keep, seeing that on the first floor Azbara Jos was returning to his room on that level. Up the stairs to the office they had entered previously, sat a male Quel'Doran elf in spiked ridged armour, an eye patch and scars giving him a worn and venerable appearance, next to him was a bullywug, the creature stood around three feat tall but it's height was made greater by the tall hat atop his head comprised of the snout and jaw of a blue crocodile that pointed upwards. Inquiring as to who these people were that Bornian had announced into his chamber, Rack once again repeated that they had been sent by Bog Luck, saying he was not happy with conditions at the roadhouse and demanded more pay. Dralmorrer did not believe them however, and demanded to know the real reason they were there. Stepping forward and seeming to draw a great air of charm and sauve, Barion admitted that they were not there under Bog Luck's orders and instead were tired of waiting around the roadhouse and wanted to be where the action was so they could better serve. At this Dralmorrer was pleased, dismissing he bullywug, whom he named as Pharblex, and welcomed the men into his study, especially Kadmos, a fellow elf of the Empire whom he wished to talk at length with. What followed was a tense back and forth between Kadmos and Dralmorrer, the former trying to conceal as much as possible whilst not appearing to be false, as the other sought to drag as much as he could from Kadmos about art, literature, and all things loved by high society in the Empire. Rack and Barion remained at high alert, limited conversations through Murry being relayed as both tried to come up with a plan, Barion terrified they would be found out and should attack now whilst their guard was down, and Rack seeing their gamble as having paid off. Eventually, after Kadmos began to pry into where Rezmir was, Dralmorrer seemed to be broken from his good mood and decided that they should be seen to some quarters before being tested. Leading them out into the Wards and to the south eastern corner of the castle, above a forge where lizardfolk struggled to make steel weapons, Dralmorrer explaining he had been trying to teach the uncultured things some metalwork, but had so far had very limited success. Once in their rooms the three interlopers collapsed onto the straw beds, exhausted. Category:Blog posts